Scale The Wall To Reading — Music or Text

Let's Read in Tempo

A magnificent compliment to language learning and remedial reading!

This linguistic approach to regular reading is used with young boys (mostly) that either cannot or will not read music because their eyes dance so much from either TV, or video games, or other attention deficit challenges. We read the notes to a metronome, then we read the words to a metronome, and then we record to background music. These simple exercises are read to music, recorded, and then given to each student on a CD for an additional $10.

A Boy That Didn't Read

I was a boy that didn't like to read.
Some teachers thought I had a disease.
I'd go to the mall, Disney Land, and play with my friends.
When my mother called, I wouldn't come in.

Finally when I would sit down to read my assignments,
My eyes would water, and then jump around and I didn't know what all the words meant.
When they would test me at school my thoughts would wander and I would lose my place.
When the scores came back, I knew it was something I couldn't face.

When the school told my parents I was a resource kid,
They looked at me as if I had three heads.
Before I knew it we had after school tutors.
But nothing changed so they started looking for another school.

In the process they signed me up for music lessons.
I already liked cool music but playing and singing was not in my plan.
When I knew there was no way out I said "I'll play drums".
I'll pound real hard and they'll see that they're wrong.

When my teaqcher said "Please hit your sticks on this pad.
As you read these notes."
It wasn't that bad.
Soon I was playing in the band with a really good student.

He was nice and gave me some advice. I started to play that very moment.
One week my teacher said that "Drummers are hard to beat."
We both laughed and soon started to read.
We read music, but when it started to get hard,
To my surprise we started to read words.
Not like in school but to a beat.
Into a mic it sounded so sweet.

I'm playing and practicing my music and reading every day.
I started reading stories to my little brother. What can I say?
We dress up in a shirt and tie.
Finally I can walk with my head high.

I was scared at first but then it happened.
I started to work and doing something important.
Now I can play music — even more I like to read.
Music lessons and reading in tempo worked for me.

Sometimes I get lazy. All kids do.
But now if I want to work hard I can see things through.

Bryce Connely’s Story

6/26/08

Bryce is a 12-year-old boy who has lots of energy and enjoys life. He has struggled with reading for a long time. At times he literally hated to read because he lacked the ability and thus confidence. Even trying would put him in a defensive mood. His frustration level was so high that he felt overwhelmed.

Since reading is such a big part of life and important to education, we were desperate to find a solution to his problem as this began to affect him in other areas of his life. He would not participate in other activities where he might be called upon to read anything at school or church.

In the past we tried many programs, public and private, which ended in disappointment and discouragement with little or no progress. He tried very hard but ended up feeling like a failure.

In first grade, during math time, he was put in a reading resource program, which caused him to miss his math lessons. In second grade he just kept falling further behind. He would cry and feel upset when we would try to get through his home reading assignment. There were times when we couldn’t get him to go to school.

In third grade we made the decision to go to a private school thinking he would have better instruction. This didn’t work and he grew further behind. He was already below the level of the other children and this just compounded things. His teachers worked very hard but their approach did not work for him.
As parents we spent extra time reading with him but when he tried the frustration would still overwhelm him. We bought books and games and encouraged him but it didn’t help. We found another tutor, an older girl who Bryce liked. She tried but he still struggled. Next we put him in another private school with more one on one. He improved slightly but it was still not coming together.

The school district tested him and because he didn’t fit into and excel in their main stream programs, they labeled him and basically told us they couldn’t do much. We were at our wits end and so was Bryce.

We decided to put things on the back burner for awhile and called for some drum lessons to help Bryce have a feeling of accomplishment in another area. We were blessed very much to be led to Dan Whitley. I called and told him I had an 11 year old needing music lessons. Our discussion led us to Bryce’s trouble with reading.

Dan has a program called “Reading with Tempo”. It was worth a try, we thought. WOW were we ever in for a pleasant surprise. This became the answer to our prayers. Bryce was not too happy to start this but the incentive for him was the drumming part. He was a little worried when I dropped him off the first time, but when I picked him up he came out with a smile on his face. He was already learning to feel good about himself. He came home and found an old brief case in which to put his reading and drumming supplies.

It appears that he was finding a new place in his brain to keep all this learning that was going on with the linguistic approach using rhythm and music. As time went on and he played in his first recital, his self-confidence soared. He was playing drums and reciting poetry.

He was in my Cub Scout Troop and used to sit back and not get too involved. Soon I saw him participating and feeling like he had something of value to offer. I felt him making a real effort for the first time and taking pride in his lessons. Dan’s program worked… it really worked!

We worked on each lesson until he could do it 100 percent tempo with 100 percent accuracy. He started to read with smooth rhythm. He knew when to pause and stop. With each lesson he sounded better and better. Dan recorded all his lessons on CD and you could hear the tone and confidence in his voice improve with each lesson. He enjoyed listening to his own voice and played it at bedtime.

We feel this was the answer. Dan’s efforts have paid off for our Bryce. I know this will be a major part in helping him succeed in his life. He is now 12 and has much more to smile about. Dan and his program has been a great blessing to us and I feel there are so many out there that could find this to be their answer as well. This is an inspired program. Thanks to Dan for his patience, abilities, and talents that he has shared with us.

Jody Connelly

Is addiction to video games a sickness?

Friday, June 22, 2007
Deseret News

By Lindsey Tanner
Associated Press

CHICAGO — The telltale signs are ominous: teens holing up in their rooms, ignoring friends, family, even food and a shower, while grades plummet and belligerence soars.

The culprit isn't alcohol or drugs. It's video games, which for certain kids can be as powerfully addictive as heroin, some doctors contend.

A leading council of the nation's largest doctors group wants to have this behavior officially classified as a psychiatric disorder, to raise awareness and enable sufferers to get insurance coverage for treatment.

In a report prepared for the American Medical Association's annual policy meeting starting Saturday in Chicago, the council asks the group to lobby for the disorder to be included in a widely used mental illness manual created and published by the American Psychiatric Association.
AMA delegates could vote on the proposal as early as Monday.

It likely won't happen without heated debate. Video game makers scoff at the notion that their products can cause a psychiatric disorder. Even some mental health experts say labeling the habit a formal addiction is going too far.

Dr. James Scully, the psychiatric association's medical director, said the group will seriously consider the AMA report in the long process of revising the diagnostic manual. The current manual was published in 1994; the next edition is to be completed in 2012.

Up to 90 percent of American youngsters play video games and as many as 15 percent of them — more than 5 million kids — may be addicted, according to data cited in the AMA council's report.

Joyce Protopapas of Frisco, Texas, said her 17-year-old son, Michael, was a video addict. Over nearly two years, video and Internet games transformed him from an outgoing, academically gifted teen into a reclusive manipulator who flunked two 10th-grade classes and spent several hours day and night playing a popular online video game called "World of Warcraft."

"My father was an alcoholic ... and I saw exactly the same thing" in Michael, Protopapas said. "We battled him until October of last year," she said. "We went to therapists, we tried taking the game away.

"He would threaten us physically. He would curse and call us every name imaginable," she said. "It was as if he was possessed."

When she suggested to therapists that Michael had a video game addiction, "nobody was familiar with it," she said. "They all pooh-poohed it."
Last fall, the family found a therapist who "told us he was addicted, period." They sent Michael to a therapeutic boarding school, where he has spent the past six months — at a cost of $5,000 monthly that insurance won't cover, his mother said.

A support group called On-Line Gamers Anonymous has numerous postings on its Web site from gamers seeking help. Liz Woolley, of Harrisburg, Pa., created the site after her 21-year-old son fatally shot himself in 2001 while playing an online game she says destroyed his life.
In a February posting, a 13-year-old identified only as Ian told of playing video games for nearly 12 hours straight, said he felt suicidal and wondered if he was addicted.

"I think i need help," the boy said.

Postings also come from adults, mostly men, who say video game addiction cost them jobs, family lives and self-esteem.

According to the report prepared by the AMA's Council on Science and Public Health, based on a review of scientific literature, "dependence-like behaviors are more likely in children who start playing video games at younger ages."

Overuse most often occurs with online role-playing games involving multiple players, the report says. Blizzard Entertainment's teen-rated, monster-killing World of Warcraft is among the most popular. A company spokesman declined to comment on whether the games can cause addiction.

Dr. Martin Wasserman, a pediatrician who heads the Maryland State Medical Society, said the AMA proposal will help raise awareness and called it "the right thing to do."

But Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, said the trade group sides with psychiatrists "who agree that this so-called 'video-game addiction' is not a mental disorder."

"The American Medical Association is making premature conclusions without the benefit of complete and thorough data," Gallagher said.
Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, said she sees at least two children a week who play video games excessively.

"I saw somebody this week who hasn't been to bed, hasn't showered, because of video games," she said. "He is really a mess."
She said she treats it like any addiction and creating a separate diagnosis is unnecessary.

Dr. Michael Brody, head of a TV and media committee at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, agreed. He praised the AMA council for bringing attention to the problem, but said excessive video-game playing could be a symptom for other things, such as depression or social anxieties that already have their own diagnoses.

"You could make lots of behavioral things into addictions. Why stop at video gaming?" Brody asked. Why not Blackberries, cell phones, or other irritating habits, he said.